[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]In recent weeks and months, the word \u201cequity\u201d and the intention behind \u201cequity\u201d related work have been questioned. Because of this, the Prichard Committee is joining the refrain of leaders across the state who are working to dispel misinformation and to rightly connect the work of \u201cequity\u201d to achieving full \u201cequality\u201d for which we, and our Constitution, aspire.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft” animation_delay=”.2″]Specifically, for our work, equity is ensuring all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, learning difference or gender have opportunities to advance, such as:<\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft” animation_delay=”.4″]Simply put, \u201caccess without support, is not opportunity\u201d.<\/a> Equity is ensuring students have the supports necessary to turn access<\/em> to education into opportunity<\/em>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]For decades, we have talked about equity in our schools, how it can be used to equalize funding between poor and wealthy districts (that\u2019s what the SEEK formula is for<\/a>), and how it can\u00a0equalize learning supports<\/a>\u00a0for students who may need more help than others. In recent years, we began to see\u00a0rankings and assessment scores drop<\/a>\u00a0in important areas like 4th-grade\u00a0reading and math proficiency, so we began tracking movement among student groups. In 2020, our first\u00a0Big Bold Future report<\/a>\u00a0displayed the educational gaps between different racial student groups. The trends should call us all to intentional and targeted responses.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image alignment=”center” image=”15354″ animation=”slideInUp”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]Through the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept students out of classrooms through 2020 and into 2021, these gaps were exacerbated<\/a>. And, while state assessment results will not be out until later this year, national studies project significant learning loss with losses up to 60 percent higher for students from less educated homes<\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]As our 2016 report\u00a0Equity with Excellence<\/a>\u00a0showed, however, educational equity is not just about helping close the gap in achievement between various groups of students. We must meet students where they are and help them meet their <\/em>potential \u2013 which means access and support to the meet the state\u2019s academic proficiency standards \u2013 and to go beyond them![\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]To underscore the importance of an \u201cequity\u201d approach to education, we will be posting a new piece on social media every Thursday \u2013 \u201cEquity Thursdays.\u201d It may be a key point from a blog, an infographic, or maybe even a video. Each piece will seek to help define the many different facets of equity.\u00a0We hope you will follow and share these pieces with your audiences. With a Groundswell of education champions working together, we will achieve a Big Bold Future for Kentucky – increasing income and decreasing poverty with education at the core.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]I\u2019ll close with the words from our namesake, Ed Prichard, who in 1964 wrote the following passage for then Kentucky Governor Ned Breathitt:<\/p>\n \u201cOurs is the vision and ours the growing reality of a great society in which the accidents of race and color, parentage and poverty, location and geography will not be allowed to dim the light of human hope and to cripple the possibilities of human growth.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]This quote is an important reminder of the Prichard Committee\u2019s founding vision \u2014 one that has been too long in the realization and should prompt greater urgency with each passing year.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]We can never let our state forget that we are leaving too many students behind, not realizing their unique potential, and that we must, with urgency, understand and work so each of Kentucky\u2019s young people inherit a brighter future \u2013 a Big Bold Future \u2013 with education at the core.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In recent weeks and months, the word \u201cequity\u201d and the intention behind \u201cequity\u201d related work have been questioned. Because of this, the Prichard Committee is joining the refrain of leaders across the state who are working to dispel misinformation and to rightly connect the work of \u201cequity\u201d to achieving full \u201cequality\u201d for which we, and our Constitution, aspire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"passster_activate_protection":false,"passster_protect_child_pages":"","passster_protection_type":"password","passster_password":"","passster_activate_overwrite_defaults":"","passster_headline":"","passster_instruction":"","passster_placeholder":"","passster_button":"","passster_id":"","passster_activate_misc_settings":"","passster_redirect_url":"","passster_hide":"no","passster_area_shortcode":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-equity-lens"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6108,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5581\/revisions\/6108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}